scholarly journals Balancing race, gender, and responsibility: Conversations with four black women in educational leadership in the United States of America

Author(s):  
Natasha N Johnson

This article focuses on equitable leadership and its intersection with related yet distinct concepts salient to social justice pertinent to women and minorities in educational leadership. This piece is rooted and framed within the context of the United States of America, and the major concepts include identity, equity, and intersectionality—specific to the race-gender dyad—manifested within the realm of educational leadership. The objective is to examine theory and research in this area and to discuss the role they played in this study of the cultures of four Black women, all senior-level leaders within the realm of K-20 education in the United States. This work employed the tenets of hermeneutic phenomenology, focusing on the intersecting factors—race and gender, specifically—that impact these women’s ability and capability to perform within the educational sector. The utilization of in-depth, timed, semi-structured interviews allowed participants to reflect upon their experiences and perceptions as Black women who have navigated and continue to successfully navigate the highest levels of the educational leadership sphere. Contributors’ recounted stories of navigation within spaces in which they are underrepresented revealed the need for more research specific to the intricacies of Black women’s leadership journeys in the context of the United States.

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 7-28
Author(s):  
April L. Peters ◽  
Angel Miles Nash

The rallying, clarion call to #SayHerName has prompted the United States to intentionally include the lives, voices, struggles, and contributions of Black women and countless others of her ilk who have suffered and strived in the midst of anti-Black racism. To advance a leadership framework that is rooted in the historicity of brilliance embodied in Black women’s educational leadership, and their proclivity for resisting oppression, we expand on intersectional leadership. We develop this expansion along three dimensions of research centering Black women’s leadership: the historical foundation of Black women’s leadership in schools and communities, the epistemological basis of Black women’s racialized and gendered experiences, and the ontological characterization of Black women’s expertise in resisting anti-Black racism in educational settings. We conclude with a four tenet articulation detailing how intersectional leadership: (a) is explicitly anti-racist; (b) is explicitly anti-sexist; (c) explicitly acknowledges the multiplicative influences of marginalization centering race and gender, and across planes of identity; and (d) explicitly leverages authority to serve and protect historically underserved communities.


1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary C. King

An initial exploration of the comparative labor market situation of black women in the United States and Great Britain reveals that race and gender play similar roles in allocating people among broad occupations in both nations despite differences in historical circumstances. However, a closer examination based upon measures of occupational segregation shows that labor market dynamics are quite different. Public employment and education do not reduce racial segregation in Britain as they do in the United States, and the immigrant status of many black Britons does not explain these differences. Only youth is associated with reduced segregation in both countries.


Author(s):  
Cat M. Ariail

In the post–World War II period, nations and territories used international sport to codify and communicate their ideal citizenries. For the United States, black women who competed in track and field complicated these efforts. This book analyzes the ideological influence of black women track stars, examining how they destabilized dominant ideas about race, gender, sexuality, and national identity. The strivings and successes of black American track women, such as Alice Coachman, Mae Faggs, and Wilma Rudolph, at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events from 1948 to 1962 repeatedly forced white and black sport cultures in the United States to wrestle with the meaning of black women’s athleticism. Both white and black sport cultures struggled to fit black women athletes into their respective visions for the postwar American nation, reflecting and reinforcing how the Cold War, civil rights movement, and their intersection encouraged broader reconfigurations of the racial, gender, and sexual associations of ideal American identity. Ultimately, these American sport cultures marshaled racialized gender expectations to contain the threat that black women track stars embodied, interpreting and reinterpreting the meaning of their athletic efforts in ways that bolstered established hierarchies of race and gender.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Cat M. Ariail

This introductory chapter considers the symbolic significance of the baton pass in a track and field relay, using this moment of possibility and precarity to encapsulate the experiences and influence of black women track athletes in the postwar United States. Despite the perpetual precarity of the marginalized sport of women’s track and field, young black women who competed in the sport navigated barriers of race and gender to find possibilities. As they repeatedly represented the United States in international sporting events, they would contest, challenge, and confirm the racial and gender conceptions of American identity. On and off the track, young black women track and field athletes were active agents in the remaking of Americanness.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arshi Parvez ◽  
Justin Salciccioli ◽  
Augustin DeLago ◽  
Joseph Shalhoub ◽  
Adam Hartley ◽  
...  

Objective: To assess differences in mortality trends from atrial fibrillation (AF) among different races and genders in the United States (US). Background: AF is the most common sustained cardiac arrythmia in the US. No up to date analysis has assessed AF mortality trends by race and gender across the US. Methods: For this observational analysis US AF mortality data from 1999 to 2018 for individuals >45 years of age were extracted from the CDC WONDER database. International Classification of Diseases code I48 was used to define AF. Mortality data were age-standardized to the US 2000 standard population, and stratified by gender and race (Caucasian, Black, Asian). Joinpoint regression analysis was used to assess for significant changes in trends over the observation period, and provide estimated annual percentage changes (EAPC)s with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: From 1999 to 2018, the mortality rate per 100,000 population, increased significantly from 3.7 to 8.3 (+124%, the greatest increase observed) amongst Asian men (AM), from 5.4 to 10.8 (+100%) amongst Black men (BM), and from 9.2 to 19.2 (+108%) amongst Caucasian men (CM). Mortality increases, per 100,000 population, were seen from 4.0 to 7.4 (+85%, the smallest increase observed) in Asian women (AW), 5.3 to 12.8 (+121%) in Black women (BW), and 8.9 to 19.7 (+121%) in Caucasian women (CW) over the same time period. Joinpoint analysis demonstrated significant increasing AF mortality trends for both genders and all races studied. AW had the highest EAPC of 8.6 (95% CI 6.0-11.3) between 1999-2008, which slowed to 2.2 (95% CI 0.1-4.3) between 2009-2018. AM followed a similar EAPC pattern: 7.7 (95% CI 5.7-9.8) between 1999-2008, decreasing to 0.5 (95% CI -1.1-2.2) between 2009-2018. Between 1999-2018, EAPCs increased for BW (3.8, 95% CI 3.2-4.4), CW (4.4, 95% CI 4.0-4.8), BM (4.0, 95% CI 3.4-4.6) and CM (4.8, 95% CI 4.4-5.2). Conclusion: Between 1999 and 2018, there are increasing AF mortality trends amongst both genders and all races, with Caucasians having the greatest overall increases during the observation period. EAPCs demonstrate that the rates of increases in AF mortality are greatest in Caucasians, followed by Asian then Black Americans.


Author(s):  
Sonya Douglass Horsford ◽  
Dessynie D. Edwards ◽  
Judy A. Alston

Research on Black women superintendents has focused largely on their racial and gendered identities and the challenges associated with negotiating the politics of race and gender while leading complex school systems. Regarding the underrepresentation of Black female superintendents, an examination of Black women’s experiences of preparing for, pursuing, attaining, and serving in the superintendency may provide insights regarding their unique ways of knowing and, leading that, inform their leadership praxis. Informed by research on K-12 school superintendency, race and gender in education leadership, and the lived experiences and knowledge claims of Black women superintendents, important implications for future research on the superintendency will be hold. There exists a small but growing body of scholarly research on Black women education leaders, even less on the Black woman school superintendent, who remains largely underrepresented in education leadership research and the field. Although key studies have played an important role in establishing historical records documenting the service and contributions of Black women educational leaders in the United States, the bulk of the research on Black women superintendents can be found in dissertation studies grounded largely in the works of Black women education leadership scholars and practitioners. As a growing number of aspiring and practicing leaders who identify as Black women enter graduate-level leadership preparation programs and join the ranks of educational administration, questions concerning race and gender in leadership are almost always present as the theories presented in leadership preparation programs often conflict with or represent set of perspectives, realities, and strategies that may not align with those experienced by leaders who identify as Black women. For these reasons, their leadership perspectives, epistemologies, and contributions are essential to our understanding of the superintendency and field of educational leadership.


Author(s):  
Ryan F. Lei ◽  
Rachel A. Leshin ◽  
Kelsey Moty ◽  
Emily Foster-Hanson ◽  
Marjorie Rhodes

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